Lots and lots of lips...

[strangetomato]

So... I made a lot of lips. A whole lot. Do you think I got carried away?

Yeah, that's right. I made eighteen of them. There are six greens, six purples, three blues, one gold, one red, and one hot pink. I made these thumbnails too. I want to take some nice screenshots to include with the download post and do it up all nice, but other than that, they're ready to go.

One question: does anyone know how people take nice CAS shots where all the lips are the same, all the eyes are opened, etc.? My sims move around too much in CAS and Bodyshop is too dark and small for good preview pics. How do people do it?

Comments

[simsinthecity.livejournal.com]

*enjoys thoroughly*

As for taking pics in CAS, here's a little advice. When I was doing all my Maxis makeovers, if I was taking shots of a Sim while the game was unpaused, I took several shots of the Sim, to make sure that I had gotten at least one good shot. I'd recommend taking a few pics for each one you want to have a photo of.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. That seemed like the only way to do it, but the obsessive part of my brain wants it to be exact and I'm sure I've seen others who have done it.

I hope to share these fairly soon. I'm not going to wander off and forget like I so often do. :P

[simsinthecity.livejournal.com]

I've been tinkering around in BodyShop, pretty much for the first time, a lot lately. That looks like a good thing to do, if you can get that lighting mod others have mentioned.

And I've been making room in my makeup folder just for these!

...

Okay, not really. I've just been meaning to get rid of plenty of lipsticks, since step 4 in CAS is always a hassle when it comes to loading. Still, these will be a great addition; I can tell already.

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

They look amazing! I like the variety of purples and the hot pink. Even if they are for aliens, I'll probably use them with my regular sims too.

Those preview pictures are much easier to do on Bodyshop (that's how I take my previews, but I'm so lazy with that), but I agree that the lips will look much nicer if you take them in game.

What I'd do is use the Hula and More mod from Squinge and force the sim to adopt a still pose. Or maybe the "Pose" feature from Bon Voyage, but the sim would still move a little. Then, you set a camera angle (I've never done that, but I think you can "record" specific angles to the F1-F4 keys, I don't know well) and take the first picture.

Then, you use the Insiminator, in particular the "Social Adjustor" (looks like a bunch of balloons) to give the sim a makeover without need to cancel the previous pose or make them move to a mirror. Change the lipstick, set the pose and angle again and so on until you have all your screenshots.

Now, here's my tip. If you have Photoshop, open a new document and paste all the screenshots as different layers. Since all the pictures are supposed to be identical, the face of the sim will be at the exact position in all the poses. Then, you crop the faces out at the size you want them (I usually use 200px width and 300px height, but you probably need smaller pictures). You'll end up with a neat little document with all the layers cropped the same way.

Open another new document and drag all your layers to it. Then, you can sort them out. Use the stroke option (Inside) if you want to draw lines between every little screenshot. Flatten the image, resize and sharpen if you want to and that's it!

I really, really hope this makes sense!

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

I'm keen to see these on non-aliens, too.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I can include some preview shots on the normals too, if you like.

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

That would be fa-bu-lous.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Your wish is my command.

I'm sure they'll work just fine. The lips use an alpha by Bruno that fades out as you get to the edge, which is why the purple lipstick had that effect that you commented on in the last post (it wasn't as noticeable on the greens because there was nothing to contrast with).

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

Sweet. Some will look really nice on darker vs lighter skins. (I love that faded/mixed look)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

The darker ones will look better on darker skins, most likely.

And that's really getting me to thinking about the possibility of having a darker alien skin. It could be mint green like the Maxis version, but darker.

Of course, I'm happy enough with just the pale mint, but it'd be nice for variety.

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

Like an alien skin with a tan?

What I still long for (yet not enough to figure out how to do it myself, I R lazy) is green freckles on the normal skin tones.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks! ^_^ I'm sure they'll be just as fun for normal sims, and the way the alpha is constructed, they should blend just fine with most skintones.

I agree that Bodyshop seems so much easier. Some people have suggested a lighting mod. I should probably go looking for that.

Thanks for these detailed tips! It's very helpful, and I'm sure they will come in handy.

[pnkpnthr334.livejournal.com]

These are great! I definitely was in need of some more lips for my aliens.

Maybe there's some mod out there that makes Sims stand still in CAS, like there is for TS3. I'm not sure, since I've never looked for one, but it's possible.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'm always up for things made especially for the aliens. I'm also interested in more green freckle options (and don't tell, but I did a little playing around to work on my own alpha).

That'd be great. It might not be something I would have heard of, either, because it's such a creator-specific thing.

[pnkpnthr334.livejournal.com]

Green freckles would be amazing!!! I actually don't have any, but I have very few freckle options anyway since I won't use any that aren't categorized as Full Face Make-up. I'm just picky like that.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I have this one green option by alkaloid, but I guess they wouldn't work for you, since they aren't full face.

I actually like having them as "blush" in the makeup categories, because I never use blush (in the game or in real life). I also find it easier to find the freckles there, because the thumbnails are hard to see in the full face category.

[pnkpnthr334.livejournal.com]

I use blush sometimes, but I never use the full face make-up, which makes that turn-on useless. But having the freckles there makes Sims with that turn-on like freckles. That's why I just prefer having them there.

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

I use a hack to make Bodyshop brighter, I take all my preview pics there since my Sims move around a lot in CAS.

And the lips look great. I wish I had more aliens so I could use them!

[boolpropbea.livejournal.com]

This was just what I was gonna suggest! I don't remember where it is, but there is a hack to make bodyshop significantly brighter, and I know a lot of people who use that.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'll have to search for it. Thanks!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Do you recall where that hack came from? That could be useful. (Right now, I'm brightening the caps, but it'd probably be better your way.)

Thanks. Maybe you'll be blessed with more abductions to use them on.

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

Here you go my soul. I use the Medium one because the Max one looks ridiculous. Good luck!

(OT, but I love being able to edit my comments now. It's delicious.)

EDIT: I use the "XB" (extra bright) one. It comes in three settings: bright, Xtra bright, and XXB, which is the ridiculous one.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Josh! ^_^ I'll remember to stick with XB.

(Did you buy a paid account? That's your other account, right? Was it always paid?)

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's my personal journal. I upgraded to Paid on Friday, it was magical.

[aeliaa.livejournal.com]

What I do to get (relatively) similar shots in CAS is to put the lipstick/clothing/whatever on them, wait until they finish dancing around and peering down at themselves and settle back into the 'idle' pose, and then hit the screencap button several times per thing. You should get at least one per item that is idle, eyes open and everything. It's certainly a pain, but it works alright for me.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Heheh. That is a bit of a pain. I was trying to do that for the thumbnails, but I got frustrated and went back to Bodyshop. I wish I wasn't so obsessed with having them exact. It's the part of my brain that straightens your picture frames on the wall when you leave the room. :P

Maybe I'll give it another shot, though. Or look for that lighting mod for Bodyshop. The pics would still be small, though.

[petchy-14.livejournal.com]

I like them! When you get to sharing, don't forget to give them all in different folders, will you? I am totally keen on that Yellowey one, But I already have a *lot* of Greens, so I might give them a miss *smiles* they look beautiful though!
Which alpha did you use, by the way, because I'm sure that you must have used some of the better ones of Maxis'! I can't get over how bad their taste is *Kudos: TS3.* [LOL!]

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'll have them all labelled clearly, so you can remove the ones you don't want, and I'll probably group them in green, purple, and "other" folders to make things simple.

You have a *lot* of greens? Care to share your sources on those, kind sir? ;) I haven't been so lucky (and maybe it's the fact that I'm really picky on texture, but still...). I'd love to know where you got them. Do you have a resources post? (That's something I need to do one of these days, also.)

Like AtomicSpaceKitty's lips that I'm taking the texture from, they use one of Bruno's alphas, the natural one. It's great. It fades out the natural outline of your lips, which is an important Maxis-match feature, in my opinion. I gotta have my defined lip outlines.

The makeup in TS3 is beyond horrible. From a texture point of view, they're not bad (better than the majority of supa-shiney cc, if you ask me), but the alphas are so thick. I have that default replacement by borrowedcrime on GoS. It's a godsend.

[petchy-14.livejournal.com]

Actually, Looking back, It seems I don't D:
You know when you expect your game to have that *ohsonecessary* CC and then.. you don't? X(
I'll most likely just shove the lot in, then, because I think more than just Alien sims will benefit! :D

The makeup in TS3 is.. GAH, Its not really nice at all. As you said - too thick. I have the same replacement as you! *Snap* I love it to bits!
Best thing about the makeup in TS3 is that you have a colour slider! It means I can pair different shades using the Hex codes to give effects that I can only get in TS2 with MASSES AND MASSES of different layered CC! Odd, isn't it? :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I wish you did have a resource post. All you LL30 sim creators use interesting cc. I often download sims just for the cc. ;) (Not that I don't use them for story purposes... I've used some from that site for genetic material in Veronaville.)

I totally agree about the custom colour. I'm also a HUGE fan of being able to choose different shoes to go with an outfit. I was always saddened by seeing nice outfits on GoS that were paired with big clunky shoes or boots (to say nothing of the sandals in the game itself... Oh god, the SANDALS! D:)

Oh! Almost forgot.....

[(Anonymous)]

While I was in Europe, I found something that reminded me of S,HWC. So much that I had to take a picture of it. And post it to Flickr. And tell you about it now. Can you guess what it is? (Here's a hint- it was in the Louve)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39764561@N07/3745698278/

Re: Oh! Almost forgot.....

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. I wasn't basing my version on that work specifically, but it's certainly in the right style. I know there are plenty of them out there.

Lucky you going to the Louvre! ^_^ I've never been, but I'd love to go.

[selenecorvino.livejournal.com]

They are very nice, looking forward to downloading them.